Cumulus

The best place I’ve ever been to watch the effects of a thunder storm was when I worked on the 13th floor of Charing Cross Hospital. I could look though the windows of my department and see lightening strikes all over west London. I seem to remember Fulham football club floodlights being hit.

I hadn’t realised until coming to write this article that those ferocious bolts and the deafening sounds started with the little fluffy clouds known as Cumulus. I found out about the process by finding the MetMatters website of The Royal Meteorological Society so over to them.

‘But how much do you really know about thunderstorms? It happens in three stages – the developing stage, the mature stage and the dissipating stage.

Cumulus clouds form when moist warm air rises, cools and condenses. If the updraught of warm air continues the cloud soon looks like a tower – hence the name towering cumulus. There is little to no rain at this developing stage but you can get occasional flashes of lightning.

The cloud will eventually grow upwards into areas where the temperature is below freezing, creating ice crystals that the upper level winds fan out to form the classic anvil shape at the top of a cumulonimbus cloud. Ice at the top of a tall cloud is an essential ingredient for the thunder and lightning associated with thunderstorms.

Thanks to the millions of collisions between the ice particles and water droplets bouncing around within the cloud, an electric charge builds up. When the electrical charge becomes sufficiently separated in a thundercloud, with some regions acquiring a negative charge and others a positive charge, a discharge of lightning becomes likely. In turn, a positive charge can build up on the ground beneath the cloud, on anything that sticks up such as mountains, people or trees.

When the charge coming up from the ground connects with the charge coming down from the clouds then – flash – we’ve got a lightning strike. The air surrounding the lightning channel briefly reaches temperatures of up to 30,000°C, causing the air to rapidly expand, which we hear as thunder. Thunder and lightning occur at roughly the same time, but you see the flash first as light travels much fast than sound.

We're now entering the mature stage of our storm when the updraught of rising air continues to feed the storm, but the water vapour in the cloud has formed heavy enough water droplets that precipitation begins to fall, and this creates a column of air pushing down. This downdraught and rain-cooled air spreads out along the ground to form a gust front. It's at this stage we're most likely to get hail, heavy rain, frequent lightning, strong gusty winds and even tornadoes.

Eventually, the rising updraught is overcome by the cool downdraught and the storm begins to dissipate. The gust front cuts off the warm moist air that was feeding the thunderstorm, rainfall decreases but lightning remains a danger until the storm is all rained out and often all that's left is a wispy anvil of cirrus cloud, high up in the sky.

The entire thunderstorm life cycle from growing cumulus cloud to dissipated storm takes an hour on average with less than 30 minutes of thunder and lightning. If it lasts longer then there is more than one storm cloud present.’

And it all started with a fluffy, white Cumulus. I think the RMetS have done a splendid job in explaining what can happen next.

I’d been looking for poems about Cumulus and clouds and there are some good ones but most of the time I was doing that I was humming along to Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell from her Clouds album. It must be a sign.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfdOrNlrO-I

Rows and floes of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
I've looked at clouds that way

But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way

I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all

Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way you feel
As every fairy tale comes real
I've looked at love that way

But now it's just another show
You leave 'em laughing when you go
And if you care, don't let them know
Don't give yourself away

I've looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow
It's love's illusions I recall
I really don't know love at all

Tears and fears and feeling proud
To say "I love you" right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
I've looked at life that way

But now old friends are acting strange
They shake their heads, they say I've changed
Well something's lost, but something's gained
In living every day

I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all

I've looked at life from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all

Thanks for reading, Terry Q.

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Heroic Couplets

I’ve heard of Heroic Couplets but don’t know what they are. Presumably some sort of poetic style from a few hundred years ago. I’ll have a look in a minute or so. But just before I do that, a thought has just popped into my head of a couple of heroes of my own.

What had struck me was Lennon and McCartney. Not only one of the greatest song writing partnerships with approximately 180 jointly credited songs but they are widely credited with establishing the modern singer‑songwriter model. Before the 1960s most bands did not write their own material, and most of their hits were written for them by session musicians hired by record companies.

Lennon and McCartney, song writing partnership

Then another couple sprang to mind as I’d just watched the ‘America’ dance scene from Leonard Bernstein’s ‘West Side Story’. Which is how the show is usually advertised, even for the Proms. It is, of course, Bernstein AND STEPHEN SONDHEIM’s West Side Story. It does annoy me that lyricists are usually the forgotten heroes. Here’s a link. Perfect matching of words and music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e2igZexpMs

I let my mind drift for other couples and unexpectedly thought of Torvill and Dean. At the Sarajevo 1984 Winter Olympics the pair won gold receiving twelve perfect 6.0s and six 5.9s which included artistic impression scores of 6.0 from every judge, after skating to Ravel's Boléro. One of the most-watched television events ever in the United Kingdom, their 1984 Olympics performance was watched by a British television audience of more than 24 million people. I just had another look and their routine is still astonishing:
https://www.olympics.com/en/video/torvill-and-dean-s-legendary-bolero-performance-music-mondays

I can’t not include football partnerships and not from the Premier League, thank you very much. After much thought I decided to stick with what I’ve seen or else it should include Stan Matthews and Stan Mortensen in the famous Matthews Cup Final of 1953.

Mortensen and Matthews (sitting on the shoulders of giants)

So I’m going for the Tony Adams and Steve Bould from Arsenal’s great seasons in the late 80’s and early 90’s. I know that it should include Lee Dixon and Nigel Winterburn but it’s my article and I’ll have those two as the second couplet.

Of course, the very best couple was Trevor Francis and Bob Latchford for Birmingham City in the mid 70s but that is too obvious.

I first came across Detective Chief Inspector Morse back in about 1986 when I spotted The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn and was immediately hooked. His partnership with Sergeant Lewis is wonderfully portrayed in Colin Dexter’s books. The tv series is fine but the books are properly gritty, not the lush version on screen.

I think one of the most heroic couples are Jane and Stephen Hawking. The couple met at Cambridge University. They went on to marry in 1965, Jane aged just 21, and had three children together. They were married for 30 years from 1965 until they divorced in 1995. Stephen’s story is well known but I hadn’t known that Jane had earned her PhD degree in medieval Spanish poetry in April 1981.

I should end on a more up to date couple who are my heroes and they must be Wallace and Gromit. Created by Nick Park, from Preston, and described by the BBC News as ‘some of the best-known and best-loved stars to come out of the UK’.

Nick Park with Wallace and Gromit

Unfortunately, I’ve just realised that I’ve run out of time and space but have had time to find a few Heroic Couplets by Alexander Pope.

The Rape of the Lock

Here Thou, great Anna! whom three Realms obey,
Dost sometimes Counsel take—and sometimes Tea.

A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.


True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,
As those move easiest who have learned to dance.


Good nature and good sense must ever join;
To err is human, to forgive, divine.


Hope springs eternal in the human breast:
Man never is, but always to be blest.

            

Thanks for reading, Terry Q.

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Cracked

With time a little short this week I was rushing through various websites trying to find an aspect of Cracked that would do the job. I was thinking of eggs, Agatha Christie, old china sets etc. I came across ‘kintsugi’ which is an embracing of the flawed or imperfect as in cracked vases.

kintsugi bowl

Japanese aesthetics values marks of wear from the use of an object. This can be seen as a rationale for keeping an object around even after it has broken. It can also be understood as a justification of kintsugi itself, highlighting cracks and repairs as events in the life of an object, rather than allowing its service to end at the time of its damage or breakage.

Unfortunately, I haven’t got the time to go into this in a way to do it justice so I will have to leave it for another time, which has left me with Humpty Dumpty. 

The earliest known version was published in Samuel Arnold's Juvenile Amusements in 1797 with the lyrics:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
Four-score Men and Four-score more,
Could not make Humpty Dumpty where he was before.

The tune from 1870 in James William Elliott's National Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs. Its origins are obscure, and several theories have been advanced to suggest original meanings. The rhyme is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index as No. 13026.

The common text from 1882 is:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.

Humpty Dumpty makes an appearance in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass (1871). There Alice remarks that Humpty is ‘exactly like an egg’, which Humpty finds to be ‘very provoking’. Which is why I’m using Humpty as if he did have a great fall then he would crack. Alice clarifies that she said he looks like an egg, not that he is one. They then go on to discuss semantics and pragmatics when Humpty Dumpty says, ‘my name means the shape I am’.

Alice and Humpty Dumpty

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, in the seventeenth century, the term ‘humpty dumpty’ referred to a drink of brandy boiled with ale. By 1785, the term became slang for a short, squat, clumsy person (or someone who had too much to drink and tumbled over).

There are also various theories of an original Humpty Dumpty. For instance, King Richard III depicted as hunchbacked in Tudor histories and particularly in Shakespeare's play, and who was defeated, despite his armies, at Bosworth Field in 1485.

Another is that Humpty Dumpty was a ‘tortoise’ siege engine, an armoured frame, used unsuccessfully to approach the walls of the Parliamentary-held city of Gloucester in 1643 during the Siege of Gloucester in the English Civil War.

Colchester tourist board stated that a cannon was used from the church of St Mary-at-the-Walls by the Royalist defenders in the siege of 1648. It was termed Humpty Dumpty. A shot from a Parliamentary cannon caused the cannon to tumble to the ground. The Royalists attempted to raise Humpty Dumpty but ‘All the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't put Humpty together again’.

In science Humpty Dumpty has been used to demonstrate the second law of thermodynamics. The law describes a process known as entropy, a measure of the number of specific ways in which a system may be arranged, often taken to be a measure of ‘disorder’. The higher the entropy, the higher the disorder. After his fall and subsequent shattering, the inability to put him together again is representative of this principle, as it would be highly unlikely (though not impossible) to return him to his earlier state of lower entropy, as the entropy of an isolated system never decreases.

Humpty Dumpty's Song by Lewis Carroll

In winter, when the fields are white,
I sing this song for your delight.

In Spring, when woods are getting green,

I’ll try and tell you what I mean.

In Summer, when the days are long,
Perhaps you’ll understand the song.

In Autumn, when the leaves are brown,
Take pen and ink, and write it down.

I sent a message to the fish:
I told them “This is what I wish.”

The little fishes of the sea,
They sent an answer back to me.

The little fishes’ answer was
“We cannot do it, Sir, because-“

I sent to them again to say
“It will be better to obey.”

The fishes answered, with a grin,
“Why, what a temper you are in!”

I told them once, I told them twice:
They would not listen to advice.

I took a kettle large and new,
Fit for the deed I had to do.

My heart went hop, my heart went thump:
I filled the kettle at the pump.

Then someone came to me and said
“The little fishes are in bed.”

I said to him, I said it plain,
“Then you must wake them up again.”

I said it very loud and clear:
I went and shouted in his ear.

But he was very stiff and proud:
He said “You needn’t shout so loud!”

And he was very proud and stiff:
He said “I’d go and wake them, if-“

I took a corkscrew from the shelf:
I went to wake them up myself.

And when I found the door was locked,
I pulled and pushed and kicked and knocked.

And when I found the door was shut,
I tried to turn the handle, but-

Thanks for reading, Terry Q.

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Numbers

Where do you start with a topic on Numbers? There are an infinite number of possible ways of approaching it. Including Infinity. Then I happened to look out of my front window and saw the milestone at the end of my road and on the top is an Ordnance Survey mark. Well, that’s as good a place to start as any other.

Why it was called Ordnance Survey (OS)? It seems it has its origins in 1747 when King George II commissioned a military survey of the Scottish highlands following the Jacobite revolt of 1745. William Roy was the engineer responsible for this pioneering work; one of the staff involved was noted artist Paul Sandby. The survey was produced at a scale of 1 inch to 1000 yards.

Roy’s surveying parties of about eight relied on simple surveying compasses to measure the angles, and chains up to 50 feet long to measure distance between important features. Much of the rest was sketched in by eye. Nevertheless, the map was a powerful tool as part of a broader strategy to open up access to the Highlands.

The fact that Roy was just 21 years old with no military commission when he started the survey makes his achievements even more extraordinary. His work paved the way for modern surveying and he understood the strategic importance of accurate maps. At the time of his death in 1790 his vision of a national survey for Britain was almost within reach.

It was not until 1790 that the Board of Ordnance (a predecessor of part of the modern Ministry of Defence) began a national military survey starting with the south coast of England in anticipation of a French invasion. So that’s where Ordnance came from.

By 1791, the Board had purchased the new Ramsden theodolite, and work began on mapping southern Great Britain using a baseline that Roy himself had previously measured and that crosses the present Heathrow Airport.

In 1801 the first one-inch-to-the-mile (1:63,360) map was published, detailing the county of Kent, with Essex following shortly after. The Kent map was published privately and stopped at the county border while the Essex maps were published by Ordnance Survey and ignore the county border setting the trend for future Ordnance Survey maps.

During the next twenty years roughly a third of England and Wales was mapped at the same scale. It was gruelling work: Major Thomas Colby, later the longest serving Director General of Ordnance Survey, walked 586 miles in 22 days on a reconnaissance in 1819. In 1824, Colby and most of his staff moved to Ireland to work on a six-inches-to-the-mile (1:10,560) valuation survey. The survey of Ireland was completed in 1846.

Colby designed specialist measuring equipment, established systematic collection of place names, and reorganised the map-making process to produce clear, accurate plans. But Colby the perfectionist also travelled with his men, helped to build camps, and arranged mountain-top feasts with huge plum puddings at the end of each surveying season.

One interesting fact is that the mean sea level at Newlyn in Cornwall ( calculated between 1915 and 1921 ) is the reference point for the height data on OS maps.

Here are a couple of numbers from OS today:

‘While the public still knows us for our comprehensive range of printed leisure maps, the digital side of the business accounts for more than 90% of turnover.

All 243,241 square kilometres of Great Britain are surveyed and up to 20,000 changes are put into the database daily.’

Reading the Map

with more creases than contours
from when I didn’t need glasses
for the red dot
of a branch line station

where the edge of my compass
would be a straight path
92 degrees true north

but as arrows aligned
latitude and longitude dissolved
and I was lost

in sounds of train doors slamming
sometimes just mine

the weight of a rucksack

blasts of wind and sun
and rain and green
my sort of heights

the smell of black coffee
from a flask

sweat

shadows on a track

back to the pub
too small to be marked
where they once knew my name
and those of friends
I haven’t seen in years.

First published in Reach, July 2025

Thanks for reading, Terry Q.

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Street Lamps

A letter appeared in the Preston Journal on 18 April 1807 from Miserabilis, who complained:
‘You must know, Sir, that 'tis within these six months that I came to reside in Preston, and from the social disposition of its inhabitants, am inclined to prolong my stay.’

But, he went on: ‘The streets in most parts of the Town are so intolerably dark, that I was continually getting my shoes full of water, which God knows what may be its consequences. The medical men will tell you, that it will lead to colds, coughs, rheumatism, palsies, agues, asthmas, or consumptions; and I need not tell you Sir, that 'twill infallibly lead to medicines, doctors' bills, probably undertakers' shrowds, coffins, parsons, clerks, sextons, gravediggers, graves ... all this for the want of lamps in the streets.’

Preston had tried. Back on the 22nd of December, 1699, the Corporation ordered— “ for the better going in the streets of this town, in the winter evenings, in the decrease of the moon or when cloude interfere, it has been thought necessary that some lamps or convex lights bee provided . And there being four such convex lights already bought, provided, and brought down from London... and the said four lights bee taken care of, attended, and supplied with oyle and other necessaries as occasion requires at the town's charge." The light they gave was reported as being wretched.

It took the friendship between Preston's leading Roman Catholic churchman, Joseph Dunn, and the gas engineer, Samuel Clegg to change not only this state of affairs but also enabled Preston to be the first town outside of London to be lit by gas.

In 1815, the Preston Gas-Light Company was formed by Reverend Joseph "Daddy" Dunn, engineer Samuel Clegg, and local printer Isaac Wilcockson. Just one year later, in 1816, Fishergate became the first street in Preston to be illuminated by coal gas, transforming the town after dark.

So how did they manage to light the lamps?

Work on the use of gas for lighting had been going on for several years prior to Preston getting involved. Possibly the most important was done at Stonyhurst College, a Catholic school just outside the town, where Clegg had, in 1808, used lime-water for purification of gas from sulphuretted hydrogen in large quantities.

By its contract the gas company was required to light agreed areas more effectually than was done in other parts with oil lamps. The annual income from these lights was £162. The locations were to be determined by the commissioners. The lamps and lamp irons together with the pipes were to be one foot below the surface of the ground under each lamp were to be provided by the commissioners. The mention of lamp irons sounds as though lamp posts were intended, but the lamps were more probably secured to walls by brackets, which was the usual practice in the early days of gas-lighting.

Now that the contract had been secured it was necessary to decide on a suitable site for the works. It should not be too far from the centre of the town, and it should be on as low a level as possible to allow the gas to flow up into the town under its own pressure.

It was one thing to make plans for buildings and to see that local craftsmen carried them out, quite another to secure the necessary apparatus when there were no established sources of supply near at hand. In September samples of brass burners, chandeliers, pendant lamps, wall brackets, plain pillars, a glass vases were ordered. Delays were not really exceptional. Even in the case of cast iron pipes, for which there had been an enormous demand during the previous decade from the metropolitan water works companies, delivery was slow and the quality variable. At one point they used as service pipes a supply of surplus musket barrels which were joined muzzle into breech.

But they did succeed and the opening ceremony took place in Feb 1816 and to repeat, Preston became the first town outside of London to be lit by gas.

Information on the above was taken from: 'The Introduction of Gas-Lighting to Preston' by Brian G. Awty and from Anthony Hewitson's Preston Chronology 705-1883.

This is the first verse of a poem about the opening of Preston fm studios which used the Grade II listed building from 2008 to 2013.

Turning On St Wilfrid's School

Think of chalk
scraping down slate
a ten times table
and chairs scuffling
for the best view
of the Master blasted
over Pendle Hill
after turning on gas light
for the first time in Preston
the slight sigh of disappointment
lost in the hiss of history.

Thanks for reading, Terry Q

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Wisdom

Maybe because one never finds the cultural icons of the previous generation relevant to one’s own but I’ve never found Norman Wisdom funny but thought I’d have a quick look at his career as other aspects of wisdom were not appealing. I’m glad I did.

Norman Joseph Wisdom was born on 4 February 1915 at 91 Fernhead Road, Maida Vale W9, London where his father, mother, brother and himself shared a single room. The brothers grew up in extreme poverty and were frequently subjected to violence by their alcoholic father, who would sometimes pick them up and throw them across the room. After being expelled from the home entirely by their father, Norman became homeless and was forced to sleep rough on the streets of London.

By the age of 13, he was working long shifts in a hotel. One of his fellow boy workers persuaded him to walk to Cardiff with hopes of becoming a miner. However, the boy’s family was unable to house him, and Norman found himself homeless again.

He later joined the Merchant Navy as a cabin boy, sailing to Argentina. During the voyage, he learned to box. In Argentina, he entered a prize fight, managing to last three rounds before being badly beaten. When he was 14 he was advised to join the British Army, which accepted band recruits at that age. Though he had no musical training, he tearfully persuaded the recruiting officer to let him join and was accepted.

Norman Wisdom, irrepressible comic

In 1930, Wisdom was posted to Lucknow and during his time there, he learned to ride horses, became the flyweight boxing champion of the British Army in India and taught himself to play a wide range of instruments, including the piano, trumpet, saxophone, flute, drums, bugle, and clarinet.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Wisdom was assigned to a communications centre in a command bunker in London. There, he handled telephone connections between war leaders and the prime minister. He met Winston Churchill on several occasions while delivering updates on incoming calls.

In 1940, at the age of 25, during a NAAFI entertainment night, he spontaneously stepped out of the orchestra pit during a dance routine to perform shadow boxing. Hearing laughter from his fellow soldiers and officers, he added a duck waddle and a series of comic facial expressions. Reflecting on the moment, he recalled: "They were in hysterics. All the officers were falling about laughing."

Wisdom's ascent in the entertainment world was relatively swift. A highly successful run at the London Casino in April 1948 led to a summer season in Scarborough. He shared the stage with magician David Nixon which resulted in further variety performances together. That Christmas he appeared in the pantomime Robinson Crusoe at Birmingham's Alexandra Theatre.

He then starred in a series of low-budget comedies produced by the Rank Organisation, beginning with Trouble in Store (1953). The film earned him a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Film in 1954, and became the second most popular film at the British box office that year. Exhibitors also ranked him as the tenth biggest box-office star in Britain in 1954.

Norman Wisdom, National Portrait Gallery

It was all the above which I found interesting and not really his film career afterwards except for the fact that he became a cultural icon in Albania, where his films were among the few Western imports permitted under the regime of Enver Hoxha. When he visited the country in 1995, he was astonished to find himself mobbed by fans, including then-president Sali Berisha.

He returned in 2001, coinciding with the England vs Albania match in Tirana. At the training ground, he drew more attention than David Beckham and delighted the stadium crowd by wearing a half-English, half-Albanian shirt and performing one of his signature trips before kick-off. In recognition of his enduring popularity, Wisdom was made an honorary citizen of Tirana in 1995.

Surprisingly, well to me, Wisdom was a lifelong supporter and former board member of Brighton & Hove Albion. He was knighted in 2000 for services to entertainment. The latter part of his life was spent on the Isle of Man where he died on the 4th October 2010. His funeral took place on 22 October in Douglas with an open invitation extended to all island residents.

As I’ve said, it wasn’t the films that I found interesting about him but the tough background he came from and how he succeeded against the odds.

Any excuse to get a bit of Dorothy Parker in the blog:

Wisdom

THIS I say, and this I know:
Love has seen the last of me.
Love’s a trodden lane to woe,
Love’s a path to misery.

This I know, and knew before,
This I tell you, of my years:
Hide your heart, and lock your door.
Hell’s afloat in lovers’ tears.

Give your heart, and toss and moan,
What a pretty fool you look!
I am sage, who sit alone;
Here’s my wool, and here’s my book.

Look! A lad’s a-waiting there,
Tall he is and bold, and gay.
What the devil do I care
What I know, and what I say?

                                             Dorothy Parker

Sir Norman Wisdom, his statue

Thanks for reading, Terry Q.

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Deal Breaker

I started an article in Psychology Today about research into what makes a deal breaker in relationships. It was a bit technical but still very well written. And then I happened upon a site where people were commentating on what they really didn’t like in potential partners. I was hooked. The first one below is what kicked it off for me:

"Most common dealbreakers include abuse, rude to servers and others, drug use, adultery, etc. Ignoring the obvious dealbreakers, what are some unusual dealbreakers you have? For me, it was a hatred for theme parks. I couldn't have fun with someone like that."

"People who think reading is 'boring'."

"A hatred for fandom/dressing up. I love going all out for Halloween or theme parties etc. I couldn't be with someone who didn't want to go all out too."

"Camping. I hate it, I never want to do it again. Couldn't date someone who was into that sort of thing."

"Can’t cook? If you can’t cook, I can’t be with you. I’m not going to be the only one feeding us. If you can’t cook and expect me to feed you all the time it literally won’t work out."

"Not liking fun facts. I know who I am at this point and if you don't enjoy random tidbits of useless knowledge neither of us are gonna have a good time."

"I would veto someone for not knowing how to use apostrophes correctly."

"Influencers/lifestyle bloggers are a big no for me. Staging everything in life for likes is not how I want to live it."

"Posting pictures of themselves 'meditating' on social media. If you are meditating you wouldn't be trying to convince everyone that you're meditating... it's just weird."

"Don’t like people who chew with their mouth open or talk with a mouthful of food. Gross. I’m out if you do that."

"Those weird folks who take selfies constantly."

"Supporting Spurs - and I’m not joking,"

"I ended it with someone who once turned up in some bloody awful Paddington like checked trousers. I icked right there and then."

"A nail biter makes me cringe."

"Someone who’s too lazy to pronounce the TH sound - I live in Ireland."

"Sport, watching, playing, reading or talking about it. Any of it at anytime. And the gym."

"Astrology; homeopathy; imperfect grammar or syntax in text messages. All instant deal breakers."

"Anyone who wears what I think are horrible shoes - slip ons (double nope if they have tassels) pointy toed shoes, sandals (with or without socks) flip flops, crocs, sliders. Men should wear proper boots or decent trainers."

"I wouldn't date anyone with the same name as my ex. No thank you."

I can’t stand when people put wrappers into cups of tea/coffee that they’ve finished. Total deal breaker."

"Someone who didn’t like my dog sleeping at the end of the bed. He said it was her or him, it was an easy choice, I loved that dog."

As for the poem. I couldn’t resist this:

The author Daniel Defoe controversially wrote of the town mentioned in this poem in his 1704 book 'The Storm '. The town accused him of libel and refuted the allegations he made. Defoe wrote:

If I had any satire left to write,
Could I with suited spleen indite,
My verse should blast that fatal town,
And drown'd sailors' widows pull it down;
No footsteps of it should appear,
And ships no more cast anchor there.
The barbarous hated name of Deal shou'd die,
Or be a term of infamy;
And till that's done, the town will stand
A just reproach to all the land.

Thanks for reading, Terry Q.

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Personal Effects

I was at a golden wedding anniversary event the other week (congratulations Sue and Mike) and happened to be in their back garden when their granddaughter looked at the watch on her wrist and said “There is someone at the front door”. How did she know this? She explained the details.

So when I got this week’s topic of Personal Effects I started to wonder if there could be a system called ‘Personal effects’ such as in email as one of the definitions of Personal Effects is things that you take with you.

Now that could cover a multitude of stuff but I’d like to take the opportunity to look at how medical technology has and might affect us. I’m taking the invention of wearable spectacles in Venice during the 13th Century as my starting point for how it has assisted human beings in our everyday lives. 

A brief run through includes pocket watches in around 1590, wearable hearing aids in the late 1800s and in 1949, American biophysicist Norman Holter invented the first portable health monitoring device. And that is about it for personal devices. I’m not counting things like stethoscopes which are used by medical professionals.

Things changed with the development of electronics. We can see this in smart watches used, for instance, in counting steps, in portable measuring devices for various bodily functions, in implanted devices.

But what about future developments. The website techtarget suggests:
Wearable technology is becoming increasingly popular and is set to revolutionize the future. While fitness trackers, smart devices, intelligent clothing and VR and AR headsets have gained widespread approval, the full potential of these technologies has yet to be realized.

The following are some futuristic concepts tech experts have predicted will shape wearable technology:
Energy harvesting. One drawback of wearable technology is that it must be taken off for regular charging. 

Energy harvesting is being researched and could prolong battery life by converting body heat, movement or solar energy into power. Piezoelectricity is one example of energy harvesting where piezoelectric ceramic can convert the body vibrations produced during movement into energy.

Smart contact lenses that contain microscopic sensors could directly cover and move with the human eye introducing the possibility of far more sophisticated capabilities than smart glasses.

AI integrated sensors that help with performing functions associated with thinking are currently being developed. Brain implants that could help people recover from traumatic brain injuries, alleviate mood disorders and assist those with communication disorders.

I was particularly taken with epidermal electronics which because of their mechanical properties resembles that of skin. With this inherent ability epidermal electronics can accurately acquire data without altering the natural motion or behaviour of skin. The thin, soft, flexible design of epidermal electronics resembles that of temporary tattoos laminated on the skin. Essentially, these devices are ‘mechanically invisible’ to the wearer.

And how much more personal and effective is that.

This poem was published in a Poetry Anthology, organised by Christabel Hopesmith, called 'Body and Soul ', to mark 70 years since the start of the NHS. I’m including it as it covers some of the above from both a technological and personal point of view.

It’s never finished

Over a coffee
I wrote up the job.

Replaced ECG lead.
Tested ok. Informed Staff Nurse.

and that was that
which didn’t seem enough
considering
so I added the Staff Nurse’s name
and doodled
an arrow tipped wire
threading my lines
into a cartoon heart
which seemed appropriate
for the Cardiac Catheterisation Suite

and dunked a biscuit

wondering whether
if I’d been the patient
would I be disturbed
by some jerk
trying to chat up a colleague
by reciting the reasons
why platinum was used
in the guide wire
about to go into my heart

or would I give a damn
as long as it was obvious
they knew what they were doing
as long as I knew I’d get back
to family and friends

and if I was that patient
would I have helped the jerk
by saying that platinum
was also an anniversary
so why not celebrate the NHS
by taking someone to dinner

I finished the coffee
and wished I’d thought of that.

Thanks for reading, Terry Q.

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Swimming Pools

I note that the theme is entitled Swimming Pools and my immediate reaction was open air pools or Lidos. I also note that the word is Pools and I wish it were so here in the North West. Indeed, I wish there was actually one that I could highlight. It used to be the case that nearly every town and city would have its own lido but no more.

Before I can go any further it has struck me that I don’t know why it is called a Lido. It seems that it was first termed this in the 1930s and is an Italian word for ‘beach’ such as Lido di Venezia, the barrier beach enclosing the Venetian Lagoon. There is another article on this at some point.

But for now I want to concentrate on this area and one place that is fighting back against the closures and that is the Grange-over-Sands Lido which opened in 1932. The buildings are in Art Deco style. Historic Pools of Britain describes the lido as ‘A very fine intact Art Deco mushroom shaped lido in a stunning setting on the edge of Morecambe Bay’.

Grange Lido in its heyday

English Heritage state the reasons for the lido's Grade II listing in 2011 as:

Completeness: as a complete example of a 1930s lido with the survival of all key ancillary buildings and structures
Pool: for the unusually shaped pool, designed for multiple uses and which retains its original stepped diving stage
Historic: as an evocative reminder of the former popularity of sea-side towns such as Grange over Sands and the inter-war cult of fresh air, fitness and mass leisure.

The lido closed in 1993 after a report suggested that necessary repairs would be too expensive to be justified and then crucially in 2011 the Save Grange Lido campaign was established, aiming to "transform it into a vibrant community owned leisure facility with a restored 50m pool at its heart." Save Grange Lido Ltd incorporated as a Community Benefit Society in January 2019.

the derelict Grange Lido

The Society has grown year upon year, and now comprises people from a range of different backgrounds and specialisms. It includes experts in leisure management, lido operation, business, civil engineering, restoration of historic buildings, tourism, marketing, planning, law, IT, journalism, history and architecture, as well as concerned mums, dads and grandparents. All those involved in the Society are volunteers. The group produced a detailed business plan setting out how it believed this could be achieved. It also has a Friends of Grange Lido.

In February 2019, the local council allocated £2 million for ‘light touch refurbishment’ of the lido, to include making it structurally sound, bringing it back into public use, and providing refurbished units for community groups or entrepreneurs.

In February 2023, it was reported that the repair work was to start the following month and later that year the lido's pool was given a ‘temporary infill’ of stones in order to create a public space. In March 2024, works were anticipated to finish by summer, however in May 2025 it was announced that the reopening had been delayed due to issues with concrete repairs.

At present the Westmorland and Furness Council is carrying out a £6.8 million pound restoration and promenade project and recent progress includes the upgrading of the central pavilion, making an accessible promenade entrance, stabilizing changing areas, repairing the diving board structure and adding a playground.

the planned SGL renovation

The Council's current stage of work on the Pool Basin involves a temporary infill of the main pool area to create a multi-purpose public space rather than an immediate refilling for swimming. Meanwhile Save Grange Lido are pushing for future stages to fully restore the 50 metre pool for swimming and to add a cafe, gym and community hub.

Back in 2019 I wrote this poem about the Lido which was published in Magma in July 2020 but I don’t want to use all of it just a few lines from the middle:

Grange-over-Sands Lido

...to stroll along the Promenade
in time with tipping our hats
to folk with dogs
and it was all a bit splendid

apart from the fact
I knew it would end
when she peeked through gaps
in the Lido’s wall
at shattered Art Deco
splattered in filth and graffiti

and end it did
she was heartbroken
even before finding
photos from the fifties
pasted on the fence
of kids diving through summer...

Then a few years later I wrote this poem:

Grange-over-Sands Lido II

She was so excited
she started to mix up
her SGLs and her SLDCs
while I was no better
as I tried to get to grips with
Community Benefit Societies

all so different to the last time
when there were no noticeboards
just black and white photos
of folk gathered round summers
that had closed years ago
and I wondered if any of the kids
paddling in those photos
are part of the campaign
that we’re reading about
friends and then Friends
who’d dropped a pebble
in the centre of dirty water
and seen ripples spreading
past filth and graffiti
ripples cleansed and clear
pressured by their campaign
battering against rusting wire

we strolled along the Promenade
back to the railway station
signed up by mobile phones
pleased to be part of success.

Published in Reach Poetry, 2026

Thanks for reading, Terry Q.

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Reflect

Reflect is one of those odd words in English that can have completely opposite meanings. Reflect as in a mirror which is instantaneous or Reflect as thinking about a subject deeply. I wondered whether there is a word which describes this state of affairs and lo and behold there is.

The dictionary meaning of the word contronym is ‘a word having two meanings that contradict one another.’ A contronym is also called a ‘Janus word’ or auto-antonym. It's a word that has contradictory (or reverse) meanings depending on the context.

For example, the word ‘transparent’ can mean either something that is invisible or obvious. Or ‘dust’ which can mean to remove as in dusting a shelf or to add as in dusting a cake.

My new printed Oxford English and my old Chambers dictionaries do not have definitions but the online Oxford does. OED's earliest evidence for contronym is from 1962 in the writing of J. Herring.

I’m going to have to choose which Reflect to look at and it’s going to be this one.

Whenever I think of poems or literature about looking back to reflect on things done or not done, then the following poem by William Wordsworth usually comes to mind. It’s generally known as 'Tintern Abbey' but I prefer the full title. This is the extract that does it for me.

Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798.

But oft, in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din
Of towns and cities, I have owed to them,
In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,
Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart;
And passing even into my purer mind
With tranquil restoration:—feelings too

Wordsworth claimed to have composed the poem entirely in his head, beginning it upon leaving Tintern and not jotting down so much as a line until he reached Bristol, by which time it had just reached mental completion.

Well, considering the poem is 160 lines (give or take) that’s pretty good going and I do wonder if anyone challenged him on this. Not to mention the fact that his rather talented sister, Dorothy, was walking with him.

I’ve just given myself 5 minutes to have a Reflect on times past. I don’t think that reflections such as these need to melancholic, indeed as Wordsworth says ‘sensations sweet’ can be the order of the day.

So, in my 5 minutes of time present there were memories of a phone call I didn’t make, the sheer joy of vomiting after a hard training run over sand dunes in Great Yarmouth, a railway journey along the west coast of Wales to Pwllheli, getting rid of my mortgage, a poetry event, friends.

I had to drag myself away from all that looking back to think about a poem to go with the thoughts. I think this will do the job and it sort of covers the same concerns as Tintern.

Maritime Museum, St Helier

I didn’t know that fathom
came from faedm,
a measure of outstretched arms
no longer than the arrow
which had stopped me
on a hot March day
as I wandered on my own
following signs
in a museum sort of way.
An arrow,
a wordvane dipped
in terms of the sea
and its turning turned
my day around
as back to the start
and a boy again
I mixed up sand and water
and launched my boat on the pond,
pushed on buttons I shouldn’t
and ran round corners to hide,
let fingers brush the rich black tar
in timbers
that shivered my soul,
made up yarns for pictures
that soon became a scene
where a father
taught his son the knots
and splices of his skills,
around the tree and down the hole
the rabbit had tried and tried
but here,
I can’t believe it,
the bowline came first time
and for a time
I felt a smile but with
Force 2, precipitation,
that brought me back
to the forenoon watch
and ready to run ashore
not sure
I’d play the boy again
the hours for that have passed
but glad of a place
where the sea’s embrace
can be measured
in outstretched arms.

First published in Iota, March 2003.

Thanks for reading, Terry Q.

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Lost in Translation

Robert Frost is usually credited for the quote that ‘Poetry is what gets lost in translation.’ But however good and whatever is translated in poetry or prose then what is also usually lost is the name of the person who translates the work. Which seems unfair as it is a highly skilled art and profession which I know little about.

All of Georges Simenon's Maigret works have been fully translated into English. Jean Stewart translated them through the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. 

In 2013 Penguin translated the full series but included no information whatsoever about the translators, such as Linda Asher, Anthea Bell, or Siân Reynolds. They are credited on the title page, but otherwise completely anonymous.

However, there are two organisations in the UK that do represent the profession.

The Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) is a professional association representing translators, interpreters and language services businesses. ITI is affiliated with the International Federation of Translators (FIT). As the principal professional association of translators and interpreters it has become one of the primary sources of information on translation and interpreting to government, industry, the media and the public.

The Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL) is the UK's not-for-profit royal charter body for languages and linguists. They support linguists in their careers and lives. They do have a Diploma in Translation, a Master's-level qualification for work as a translator and a Certificate in Translation a Degree-level qualification for translation.

The International Association of Professional Translators and Interpreters (IAPTI) is an international professional association of translators and interpreters based in Argentina. I mention this as on its website there is an article by Marie Lebert entitled ‘60 translators who changed the world’. Well worth a look.

The Bukhman International Booker Prize, which is awarded annually, celebrates the best works of long-form fiction or collections of short stories translated into English and published in the UK and/or Ireland.  It recognises the vital work of translators, with the £100,000 prize money divided equally between authors and translators. In addition, shortlisted authors and translators each receive £2,500. This year ‘Taiwan Travelogue’ by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, translated by Lin King, was announced as the winner.

In February of this year The Society of Authors announced the following:

‘Tonight we shine the spotlight on the often “invisible” creativity of translators, at a ceremony announcing the winners of our 2025 Translation Prizes.

Nine literary translators and one editor will be named winners at the event at the British Library, with more than £32,000 in prize money shared among the winners and runners-up. The prizes celebrate outstanding translations of prose, poetry and non-fiction, from languages from around the globe and across a range of genres.’

But I can only judge by how my reading has been affected by a translated book. I have no idea if they follow the original or read as well in English but I have loved them when reading. These are a few of my favourites.

'The Name of the Rose' by Italian author Umberto Eco was translated into English by William Weaver in 1983.

'The Shadow of the Wind' by Carlos Ruiz Zafón was published in 2004 and translated by Lucia Graves.

The Icelandic crime novel 'Jar City' by Arnaldur Indriðason was translated into English by Bernard Scudder.

When I was working at Butlins back in about 1970 the bloke in the next staff chalet said ‘You like reading, don’t you? Try this.’ It was a Penguin Modern European Poets copy of 'Rilke Selected Poems'. 3/6. Translated by J.B. Leishman. 

I was knocked out by it at the time. But I’m mentioning it now to show how there is no one way to translate a piece of work. I’m taking the first verse of Autumn Day from that book translated by J. B. Leishman and showing other translations.

Autumn Day

Lord, it is time. The summer was so great.
Impose upon the sundials now your shadows
and round the meadows let the winds rotate.
                                                  J. B. Leishman

Lord: it is time. The summer was immense.
Lay your shadow on the sundials
and let loose the wind in the fields.
                                                  Galway Kinnell, Hannah Liebmann

Lord: it is time. The huge summer has gone by.
Now overlap the sundials with your shadows,
and on the meadows let the wind go free.
                                                  Stephen Mitchell

Thanks for reading, Terry Q.

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